it's the first love, it's perfect, really somethin' (it's fearless)
by The Cinder Crown
Summary: One-shot collection featuring Astoria Grengrass in 15 different situation with different people; inspired by Taylor Swift songs. 1. AstoriaDraco


**It's the first love, it's perfect, really somethin' (it's fearless)**

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 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments]** | Assignment 4 | Muggle Music | **Task #6: "Tango: Maureen" (Rent):** Write about dance lessons.

 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments] | **March Event | Creativity month | AstoriaDRACO | 6. Enemies to Romance

 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments] | **March Event | Jewel Day Challenge | Diamond | **Diamond |** Ring: Write about something difficult | Bracelet: Write about someone with good fortune | Necklace: Write about a strong character

 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments]| **March Event | Caffeine awareness challenge | 3. **Bicerin** | Write about trying something new

 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments] |**2018 Yearly Event | Insane Houses Competition | Gryffindor | Scenario - We're both taking the same ballroom dance class and we hate each other but we keep getting paired because we're the only ones here without an S.O.

 **Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry [challenges & Assignments]| **2018 Yearly Event | 360. Word - repeat

 **A.N.:** I own neither characters nor the songs used for each chapter.

 **words:** 2,460

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 **i. The story of us (looks a lot like tragedy now)**

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Astoria hurried into building, her wet ebony curls blowing behind her. The small bag she had brought with her tumbled loosely over her shoulder and the zipper of her drenched jeans jacket had by now already opened by itself. Taking three steps at once, she raced through the rather ancient halls of London's Royal Opera House. She rounded several corners – albeit nearly knocking one of the staff personal off his feet – before she finally came to a stop right in front of a pair of big, old oak double doors.

Breathing heavily from all the running, she glanced at the small watch on her wrist – and sighed in frustration. She was about ten minutes late to her first class and even though Astoria protested vehemently when her sister had signed her up for the course, the many years of being educated and brought up in a very no-nonsense-household, the brunette felt very uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed now that she was not on time.

But since the chance to make a very good first impression were already gone, the blue-eyed young woman allowed herself to take another minute to calm herself down before she knocked on the door ever-so-slightly and entered.

Naturally, all eyes were immediately drawn upon her.

"I apologize for my tardiness," Astoria started, "you see, I usually never use the underground, but it was raining cats and dogs, so I took it and somehow I ended up at the wrong station and I since I was surrounded by mug – "

Here she stopped herself mid-sentence. She had just entered a room of non-magical people – she was still in the mood for cursing Daphne into the next century for that! – so offering an excuse about how she wasn't able to cast a spell in front of muggles might not be the best idea.

A petite, elderly lady clad in an elegant black dress, whom Astoria assumed to be the dance-instructor, only held up a thin and wrinkled hand. "Enough now girl," she spoke in a crisp voice and gestured for Astoria to fully enter the shiny and expensive looking ball room. The young woman immediately did as she was told – this woman looked like she wasn't one to be crossed with…

"I take it you do not have a partner yet?" the dance-instructor continued with a questioning look.

Astoria sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She would definitely kill her sister when she was done with this. Daphne had insisted on her learning how to dance, and since it would be embarrassing for the family if a fellow pureblood would find out about Astoria's lack of dancing skills, she had simply signed her up for a muggle dance lesson, so the chances were small that she would run into someone.

Madam Pavlov, as it was written on her name tag, apparently took Astoria's lack of response for a 'no'.

"Very well, since we are one female dancer short anyway, I will make an exception and ignore your tardiness, Ms…?" she spoke it all in a faint, almost undetectable Russian accent.

"Greengrass," the brunette answered quickly. "Astoria Greengrass."

"Alright, Ms. Greengrass, I will now introduce you to your partner," the Russian lady said and looked around the ball room. "Please, come forward, Mr. Malfoy."

….

Astoria accidently dropped her bag and stared at the blond man with a mixture of complete shock and utter resentment. Her blue eyes were wide and blazing with fury, her mouth was probably hanging open, and she felt her hands balling into fists.

Once Draco had made his way through the remaining participants and his grey eyes fell upon Astoria, she could see how his eyebrows shot up to his hairline and how his lips thinned. He groaned, rolled his eyes and was about to protest, but was immediately stopped by Madam Pavlov.

"Ah! There will be no arguing about this," she thundered and walked towards the ancient gramophone. "Now, let's start with the basic steps. Gentlemen, please extend your left hand to your partners and place your right hand on the small of her back…"

…

Astoria watched as Draco reluctantly followed their teacher's instructions. However, she was more than a little hesitant to accept his outstretched hand.

"Damnit Astoria," Draco hissed angrily, "either you take my bloody hand right now or you might as well just leave for Merlin's sake."

"Bloody hand… how fitting," the young woman shot back, picked up her bag and tossed it carelessly into one of the corners. "Believe me, if I had not promised Daphne to take part in this nonsense, I would be out of here faster than you could say quidditch."

She could see how Draco closed his eyes – probably in an attempt to calm himself down. "I have no intention of spending any more time with you than I have to, don't worry. And now shut up and give me your hand."

Astoria bit back a sarcastic response, took a deep breath and let herself be guided by the one man she had hoped to never see again…

* * *

 _16-year-old Astoria ran across the battlefield, tears streaming down her face like rivers. Without thinking, she entered one of the old corridors, hoping to escape the madness that was taking part on the outside for just a moment. She let herself sink against the cold stone wall, when she heard a nasty cackle in the background._

" _Now, now, isn't this little Astoria," Alecto Carrow's excited voice echoed through the hallway. The mere sound of it sent shivers down Astoria's spine. "I was very disappointed with you in my class, my dear… but now, you've got the chance to prove your skills once again."_

 _This said, she waved her hand and candles on each side of the wall lit up and brought light into the darkness._

 _Astoria immedieatly observed her surroundings and almost cried out in horror when she saw a coughing and bleeding Colin Creevey on the floor._

 _Her whole body was shaking and she held on tightly to her wand._

 _Alecto started to giggle. "Go ahead, love, show me where your loyalties lie. Usually, I prefer killing filthy mud-bloods myself, but I will make an exception for you."_

 _The brunette shivered in fear. She let her eyes travel over the fragile body on the floor, and when she looked into Colin's scared and haunted ones, she swallowed hard. This was her friend, for Merlin's sake! And no matter how many times Alecto demanded of her to torture or kill 'unworthy' people like a true pure-blood was supposed to, Astoria just couldn't bring herself to do it._

 _Feeling the tears welling up in her blue eyes once again, she was about to give a negative reply, that she would rather die than hurt Colin, but before she had the chance to utter a word, the door behind her opened again and Draco stormed in; his wand held high._

" _Draco!" Astroria whispered, relieved to see a friend. "Draco, please, I – "_

" _Be quiet," he demanded, and apart from only a short moment when their eyes met, Draco turned away from her completely. Astoria didn't understand what was happening; he had never before used that kind of language with her…_

" _Why are you wasting your time?" he asked Alecto instead and gestured towards the bleeding boy on the ground._

 _Alecto rolled her eyes. "I'm teaching little Ms. Greengrass how to handle mud-bloods."_

" _We don't have time for that," Astoria heard Draco say, and watched how he, his face drawn away from her, held out his wand and with only a second of hesitation spoke the unforgivable words._

 _Devastated, Astoria watched how the flash of green light hit Colin straight in the chest._

* * *

"Now, try moving along with the music!"

Astoria felt how someone pushed her into a direction. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the bad memories.

"Would you mind concentrating just a little bit? I would like to get my money's worth out of this class."

She moved her head to stare at Draco; hurt, anger and resentment sparkling in her blue eyes.

"You killed him," she spoke for the first time in 30 minutes. Her voice was filled with emotion and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

For a moment, Draco didn't say anything, just led her to the rhythm of the music.

"Yes," was all he said, "but what's done is done."

Subconsciously, Astoria stopped dancing at once. She was surprised that he knew exactly whom she was talking about, but that didn't make things any better.

"That's all you have to say?" she asked, her voice louder than she had intended. "He was my friend! And you killed him without hesitation!"

This said, she slapped him against the cheek and ran out of the ball room.

…

Draco sighed, ignored the muggles that were staring at him and after a moment of consideration followed Astoria out of the room.

While he walked down the stairs in order to reach the outside of the Opera House, he thought about how to make things right between them.

Ever since that fateful night at Hogwarts, the two of them had – until this very day – not spoken a single word. He had not expected to see her again in the ballroom, especially since she had changed quite a bit since the last time he had seen her.

For him, she had always been Daphne's little sister. The small girl with the beautiful big blue eyes, tiny nose and petite figure. He was not prepared for the beautiful, and at the same time angry woman she had grown up to be.

The chances that he met her at a muggle-dance class where one in a million, really. Perhaps, it was his one chance to make things right between them again.

Admittedly, it was true, he had ended Creevey's life, but there was this one thing Astoria didn't know – and that made all the difference.

…

Sitting outside in the rain, Astoria heard footsteps approaching. She had a faint idea who it was, so she moved to the edge of the little wooden bench she was sitting on, making space for another person to sit down next to her.

It was time to talk, she knew that, so she wiped away the tears and turned her head to look at the blond man. He was walking through the Opera House's rose garden right towards her, ignoring the heavy raindrops that were falling from the skies.

With a questioning glance towards the free spot, he sat down on the bench after receiving a confirmative nod from her.

"I wasn't prepared to see you today," Draco mumbled, not looking into her eyes.

"I didn't want to see you today," she snapped, "as a matter of fact, I could have lived happily without seeing you ever again."

Draco was silent for a moment, which irritated her. Usually, he was the kind of guy that directly spoke what was on his mind.

"I tried talking to you," he finally replied, a little bit of anger and frustration swinging along in his voice. "I wanted to explain – "

"What's there to explain?!" Astoria shouted, still hurt from what happened all those years ago. "I admired you, looked up to you! And then, when I thought you came to help, you used an unforgivable and killed my friend! He was innocent! He didn't deserve to die that way."

The blond man balled his hands into fists and jumped up from the bench; his grey eyes blazing. "Would you rather I had let Alecto continue to torture him, Astoria?" he screamed and brushed through his blond hair in desperation. "I don't know how many spells she had already used on him, but I could tell that no matter what, Creevey wouldn't make it."

Astoria got up as well. "Well, of course, that changes everything!" she replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"It does! I saw it in his eyes. He wanted to die, Astoria!" the blond shouted furiously, and added, "and he wanted me to do it."

By now, the brunette had started pacing in small circles, blue eyes filled with tears and her light summer dress completely soaked. Her emotions were raging from upset to angry, hurt, irritated and confused. She opened her mouth several times, but no words came out.

"He wanted me to cast the spell, so _you_ wouldn't have to do it."

Astoria stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and stared at Draco.

"Colin probably knew as well as I did that Alecto would have – sooner or later – forced you to use an unforgivable. You're not a murderer, Astoria, and I wanted to prevent you from becoming one."

Astoria took a deep breath. "So you ended his life," she said matter-of-factly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Draco stepped a little closer towards her. "You were so distressed about Creevey's death… hating me seemed to help you get over it, so I let you hate me. The chance that I might had lost you forever didn't occur to me back then."

Taken aback by the news, Astoria sat down on the green grass. "All those years… I wondered how you could live with yourself… how it was possible that a man – which I had known ever since I was a little kid – could do such a horrible thing…"

"I know you. You probably would have refused to lay a hand on Creevey. Alecto would have killed you for insubordination, I'm sure. I just wanted to protect you," Draco whispered, "and I'd do it again."

Finally, Astoria wasn't able to keep her tears from flowing anymore. Wordlessly, she stepped closer to Draco, put her arms around his neck and buried her face is his chest.

She heard how he mumbled a quiet spell, and soon the soft melody of a waltz sounded through the rose gardens.

Astoria felt how he first brushed his fingers through her wet hair, before his arms moved around her waist.

It was still raining heavily, but nevertheless, she leaned closer against his strong body and together they moved silently to the lovely rhythm of the music.

She had missed him. A lot.

And perhaps there was still a little bit of good fortune left so that their story wouldn't end to be a tragedy after all…


End file.
